Principal photography on James Wan’s “Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom” began in London on June 28, 2021, and wrapped in January 2022. There’s been a lot of behind-the-scenes drama with this one.
After multiple release date changes, which included December 16, 2022, and March 17, 2023, Warner Bros finally settled on a December 25, 2023 launch for this latest DCEU instalment.
Last year, I had been told that Warner boss David Zaslav wasn’t too happy with what he’d seen of ‘Aquaman 2,’ which is actually still in post-production, but not to the point of shelving it like he did with “Batgirl.”
The fact that James Gunn has been praising “The Flash” publicly, but hasn’t said a peep about this ‘Aquaman’ sequel speaks volumes about where we’re at when it comes to this movie.
For many months now I’ve been hearing about the terrible scores it’s been getting at test-screenings, and the fact that it keeps getting test-screened over and over and over … On last count, it seems as though there have been seven test-screenings of ‘Aquaman 2.’ This is really unheard of.
Given the troublesome state of ‘Aquaman 2,’ there were obviously, at some point, reshoots called by director Wan. We’re not entirely sure what they included, but they seem to have happened to insert Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck’s Batmans — although I’m hearing Keaton’s cameo has been cut.
Oh, and then there’s also Amber Heard, who stars in this one. She did debunk rumors in November that she would not be reprising her role as Mera, but not without a petition circulating online, to have Heard fired from the franchise, receiving more than 4 million signatures.
In December, THR reported that Warner Bros. was considering ending the “Aquaman” series and recasting Jason Momoa in another DCEU role. Regardless, If this film fails, the chances of seeing a full reboot in the DCEU increases considerably by the day.
With rumors pointing at Momoa, Zachary Levi, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot not coming back to the DCEU, the only actor that’ll be left from the original films could be … Ezra Miller’s Flash!
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.